Author: Emma Donoghue

Such a nice story. Noah is approaching his eightieth birthday and looking forward to a trip to Nice to celebrate; he was born there but hasn’t been back since he was four years old. A couple of days before he is set to leave he receives a call from a social worker who asks him to take temporary parental responsibility for his eleven-year old great nephew, Michael.

The trip the two embark on is full of memories for Noah; he hopes to solve the mystery behind several of his mother’s photos. As the two get to know one another, Michael is full of ideas about the photos that might help Noah. Though not without its problems a relationship develops between the two.

I seldom mark a quote from a book but this one really sums up Noah’s feelings about his new responsibility: “So many ways Noah couldn’t protect this boy; it was like traveling with a bag of bananas he had little chance of delivering unbruised.”

Goodreads Rating: * * * * *

Author: Adele Parks

Melanie and Abigail were best friends at university. At 19, Melanie dropped out due to an unplanned pregnancy. Almost 20 years later Melanie receives a message from Abigail, now a celebrity in the US, asking to meet. Mel quickly, without thinking, invites Abi to stay with her and her family – her teenaged son, her husband and her two daughters.

As you are reading you know something bad is going to happen but I kept reading because I wanted to know what. I didn’t guess what the “something” was but once I knew I had to keep reading to find out how everything would be resolved. Not a deep book, but entertaining.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: Sharon Phennah

The best thing about the book is the title – I bought it because of the name and I wish I could pass it along to someone else because it certainly isn’t a keeper.

There are three main characters – women turning 60, 70, and 80 – with a couple of minor characters who are somewhat younger. And most of them have cats and/or dogs. The book might have rated higher had the author not given over entire chapters to the animals where they discussed their “humans”.

Goodreads Rating: * *

Author: Steffen Jacobsen

Sometimes reading about a book or an author is almost as interesting as the book itself – and this was a really good book. The author, from Denmark, is an orthopaedic surgeon. As I was finishing the book I thought perhaps there would be another one featuring the main characters; there are several others but they all come before this particular one.

One year after a terrorist attack at an amusement park in Denmark the search for the terrorists continues but with few leads. A police officer, Lene Jensen, begins to put together pieces of the puzzle. Along with an old ally, Michael Jensen, she uncovers a plot for another devastating attack. It is difficult to tell the good guys from the bad; it kept me guessing until the very last page.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *